News

Register to Vote Here. It Literally Takes 32 Seconds. We Timed It.

It’s 2020 and there's a pretty big election coming up.
Shay Samuel displays her "I Voted" sticker after voting at a polling place inside the gymnasium at the Barack Obama Prep Academy on November 6, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.

You want to vote. That’s great.

If you’re not registered, you need to do that. Fortunately, we’ve got resources to help you get it done. And for most states — 38 plus Washington, D.C. — you can even register online.

HOW TO REGISTER

You can go to vote.gov to get that process started. From there, you can select your state and get directed to a step-by-step guide to registering. Typically, you’ll need some basic info to complete the process, such as:

  • Your current address
  • A state ID
  • The last four digits of your Social Security number

Advertisement

Some states, like Kansas and Arizona, require proof of citizenship as well.

If you’re not sure if you’re already registered to vote, Vote.org has a tool that’ll check, and it only takes 30 seconds. All you’ll need is your name and current address.

The site also has resources to help you get an absentee ballot, register to vote (if vote.gov wasn’t easy enough), or even remind you that an election is coming (you probably won’t need that in 2020, but still).

HOW TO LEARN MORE

If you want to learn more about candidates and ballot measures, Vote411 has a tool that’ll take your address and show you who and what is up for a vote. And if it’s your first time voting, Vote411 also has a checklist that’ll help you register, find your polling place, and figure out everything you’ll need to know to cast a ballot.

If you need some help figuring out what’s going on in the news and what the candidates are doing, we highly recommend you read VICE News and subscribe to our daily newsletter.

PLEASE DO IT NOW

All in all, it shouldn’t take you too long to register to vote, and it’s important stuff.

Young people aged 18 to 29 voted in much larger numbers in 2018 (36%) than they did in the 2014 midterm election (20%), and a record number of women and minorities were elected to Congress.

About 46 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds voted in the 2016 presidential election. Here’s to another big jump in turnout in 2020.

Cover: Shay Samuel displays her "I Voted" sticker after voting at a polling place inside the gymnasium at the Barack Obama Prep Academy on November 6, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)